A North Carolina boy credited with fighting off a home intruder with a machete is talking about how he did it. Sgt. Shane Brown, of the Burlington Police Department, said Jataveon Dashawn Hall was arrested in an apartment there Sunday afternoon. Hall, 19, was returned to Orange County, where the sheriff’s office said he faces charges including breaking and entering and assault.Braydon Smith, the 11-year-old who thwarted the attack, told ABC 11 he was alone in the house and on the phone with his mom when the suspect entered through a window. "He pointed a pellet gun at me that was located in our house. I knew that it wasn't loaded, so I just sat down and got in my closet like he told me to," Smith said. "He went into the living room to grab my phone to make sure I didn't call the 911 or anything. When I saw him try to put it in his pocket. I grabbed my machete off of my wall and went to hit him. I hit him in the back of the head like right here.""It went by really fast. I knew I didn't have the time to think about what I was going to do. I just grabbed a weapon in the house and acted with it," he continued. Smith said he was disappointed in Hall. "You shouldn't have done what you've done. You're better off getting a job than breaking into other people's houses," he said.Barydon's dad, Christopher Smith, said he taught his son to defend himself a few years ago when their home was targeted by thieves."If they come in the door, you let 'em have it," Christopher Smith said.After Hall was struck in the head, he and the other suspects fled. “When Hall realized he was bleeding, he dropped the electronics,” left the home and departed with another man and a woman, the sheriff’s office said. It was what happened after Hall sought treatment that raised questions about how he was guarded.Hall went Friday afternoon to a UNC Hospital branch in Hillsborough, seeking treatment, according to Orange County Sheriff Charles Blackwood, who said Hall was never in the custody of his office that day. Deputies were notified, and one waited in a public area of the hospital for more investigators to arrive, the sheriff’s office said, adding that “at this point, Hall was only a suspect and there was no legal authority to hold him.”The sheriff then obtained warrants and asked hospital police to notify his office before discharging Hall, which Blackwood described as standard practice.Hall was transferred to UNC Medical Center in Chapel Hill because of the severity of his wound. But surveillance video shows Hall left the second hospital with his head wrapped in a bandage and wearing a hospital gown and blue socks around 8 p.m. Friday. A nurse noted in his chart shortly thereafter that he had left.However, the sheriff’s office said they weren’t notified until the next morning when they called to inquire about him. The reason for the delay wasn’t clear.“I am not in the business of assigning blame,” the sheriff said in a statement Sunday. “However, it has become clear to me that another statement was necessary to defend the actions of my deputies and investigators and to place this matter in the correct context.”UNC Health Care noted Sunday morning the sheriff didn’t place a deputy to guard Hall, saying suspects under treatment “remain the legal responsibility of law enforcement.” The hospital system added that “nurses and physicians cannot be both caregivers and law enforcement at the same time.”A sheriff’s spokeswoman didn’t immediately respond to an email Sunday afternoon asking if the other two suspects had been identified or caught.The boy’s mother, Kaitlin Johnson, told WTVD-TV she was upset Hall had escaped from the hospital, adding, “It was infuriating.”

RALEIGH, N.C. —

A North Carolina boy credited with fighting off a home intruder with a machete is talking about how he did it.

Sgt. Shane Brown, of the Burlington Police Department, said Jataveon Dashawn Hall was arrested in an apartment there Sunday afternoon. Hall, 19, was returned to Orange County, where the sheriff’s office said he faces charges including breaking and entering and assault.

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Braydon Smith, the 11-year-old who thwarted the attack, told ABC 11 he was alone in the house and on the phone with his mom when the suspect entered through a window.

"He pointed a pellet gun at me that was located in our house. I knew that it wasn't loaded, so I just sat down and got in my closet like he told me to," Smith said. "He went into the living room to grab my phone to make sure I didn't call the 911 or anything. When I saw him try to put it in his pocket. I grabbed my machete off of my wall and went to hit him. I hit him in the back of the head like right here."

"It went by really fast. I knew I didn't have the time to think about what I was going to do. I just grabbed a weapon in the house and acted with it," he continued.

Smith said he was disappointed in Hall.

"You shouldn't have done what you've done. You're better off getting a job than breaking into other people's houses," he said.

Barydon's dad, Christopher Smith, said he taught his son to defend himself a few years ago when their home was targeted by thieves.

"If they come in the door, you let 'em have it," Christopher Smith said.

After Hall was struck in the head, he and the other suspects fled.

“When Hall realized he was bleeding, he dropped the electronics,” left the home and departed with another man and a woman, the sheriff’s office said.

It was what happened after Hall sought treatment that raised questions about how he was guarded.

Hall went Friday afternoon to a UNC Hospital branch in Hillsborough, seeking treatment, according to Orange County Sheriff Charles Blackwood, who said Hall was never in the custody of his office that day. Deputies were notified, and one waited in a public area of the hospital for more investigators to arrive, the sheriff’s office said, adding that “at this point, Hall was only a suspect and there was no legal authority to hold him.”

The sheriff then obtained warrants and asked hospital police to notify his office before discharging Hall, which Blackwood described as standard practice.

Hall was transferred to UNC Medical Center in Chapel Hill because of the severity of his wound. But surveillance video shows Hall left the second hospital with his head wrapped in a bandage and wearing a hospital gown and blue socks around 8 p.m. Friday. A nurse noted in his chart shortly thereafter that he had left.

However, the sheriff’s office said they weren’t notified until the next morning when they called to inquire about him. The reason for the delay wasn’t clear.

“I am not in the business of assigning blame,” the sheriff said in a statement Sunday. “However, it has become clear to me that another statement was necessary to defend the actions of my deputies and investigators and to place this matter in the correct context.”

UNC Health Care noted Sunday morning the sheriff didn’t place a deputy to guard Hall, saying suspects under treatment “remain the legal responsibility of law enforcement.” The hospital system added that “nurses and physicians cannot be both caregivers and law enforcement at the same time.”

A sheriff’s spokeswoman didn’t immediately respond to an email Sunday afternoon asking if the other two suspects had been identified or caught.

The boy’s mother, Kaitlin Johnson, told WTVD-TV she was upset Hall had escaped from the hospital, adding, “It was infuriating.”